It's the little things that matter. What can you do to top a deal in which socialists bail out even worse socialists, which we got this morning from the Greeks and the masters of the Eurozone? How about a deal in which a group of Islamic fanatics get the go-ahead to build a bomb from a guy who is either the most naive fool ever to grace the world stage or a complete Muslim sympathizer? HTML5 video is not supported! Maybe you can be both, come to think of it. But don’t despair! While the Iranians are building their bomb,...

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County recorded its largest daily increase since May 1 Friday, rising 11.1 cents to $3.656. The Orange County average price recorded its largest daily increase since Feb. 27, rising 12.8 cents to $3.625, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. The average price in Los Angeles County had dropped 48 of the previous 52 days. It is 10.3 cents more than one week ago but 6.5 cents less than a month ago and 50.8 cents lower than one year ago. The Orange County...

For decades, entrepreneurs in Oklahoma and Texas have looked to the immense natural resources found beneath our states’ soil, convinced that with a dream and a little hard work they could revolutionize an industry. These entrepreneurs have characterized the innovative spirit that has made the sister states places of promise for countless Americans. We are proud to represent Oklahoma and Texas, respectively, and together we believe we can unleash the American energy renaissance that is already underway. To do so, we need to scale back the government, restore state and local control, and welcome technological advancement to tap into the...

US investment in biofuels are to be expanded under proposals advanced by the US EPA. Under the proposed rule announced Friday, the amount of ethanol in the gasoline supply would increase in coming years, just not as much as set out under federal law. That approach drew criticism from ethanol and farm groups that have pushed to keep high volumes of ethanol in gasoline. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has called for a robust renewable fuels standard while campaigning in Iowa, host of the leadoff presidential caucuses next year. … In a bid to ethanol producers, the administration also...

Full Title: Cheaper oil isn't such a benefit for US economy anymore as pullbacks in drilling cause damage If there was one thing most economists agreed on at the start of the year, it was this: Plunging oil prices would boost the U.S. economy. It hasn't worked out that way. The economy is thought to have shrunk in the January-March quarter and may barely grow for the first half of 2015 — thanks in part to sharp cuts in energy drilling. And despite their savings at the gas pump, consumers have slowed rather than increased their spending.... So what did...

U.S. drivers are projected to pay an average of $2.45/gallon (gal) for regular grade gasoline this summer (April through September), according to EIA's Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook released yesterday. This year's projected average summer price is down from a $3.59/gal average during summer 2014. The lower retail price this summer reflects a significant drop in world crude oil prices from last summer. As the main input cost in the refining process, crude oil is the major driver of retail gasoline prices, and U.S. gasoline prices tend to follow prices of the international benchmark Brent crude. For summer 2015,...

U.S. oil production is on track to reach an annual all-time high by September of this year, according to Rystad Energy. If production does indeed top out, then supply levels may soon hit a peak as well. That, in turn, could lead to shrinking supplies. The oil-and-gas consulting-services firm estimates an average 2015 output of 9.65 million barrels a day will be reached in five months — topping the previous peak annual reading of 9.64 million barrels a day in 1970. Coincidentally, the nation’s crude inventories stand at a record 471.4 million barrels, based on data from U.S. Energy Information...

It’s not even 8 a.m. and rush hour is on in northwestern New Mexico. Dozens of big white trucks and water tankers, neon flags flying, head north to the gas patch. I’m driving south, through Aztec, and as I pass the retro-orange A&W on the edge of town, I pull up alongside a drilling rig. The thing’s huge, too huge, it seems, to be rolling along the same road as my little Nissan. Yet the strange, rolling infrastructure has been a familiar site around here for decades — back in 1948, when a UFO purportedly crashed out on a nearby...

WTI crude fell below the earlier lows near $48.50 and down to $48.23 as reports reveal that once the deal is completed (presumably on June 30) all oil and banking sanctions against Iran will be lifted.

Average fuel consumption by American drivers is at its lowest level in at least 30 years, says a University of Michigan researcher... "Despite population growth of 8 percent, the absolute amount of fuel consumed by light-duty vehicles decreased by 11 percent during the period 2004—the year of maximum consumption—through 2013," said Sivak, a research professor at UMTRI and director of the Sustainable Worldwide Transportation research consortium... Sivak said that although economic factors likely contributed to declining rates of vehicle ownership and distance driven, other societal changes such as increased telecommuting, use of public transportation and urbanization of the population, along...

Brian Smith wrote: Since Ransom was kind enough to respond to me I will respond to him. The support that Obama has given for rebels Libya, Egypt, and Iran was necessary and wise because the conclusion is inevitable (the dictators are falling) and the sad fact is we (The United States and our policies) are largely resposible for putting them there. As far as Iraq as concerned we were also responsible for propping up Saddam Hussien. As the Russians learned in Afghanistan a military victory in the region is meaningless. - Kerry, Obama Seek Regime Change for Syria, Egypt...But Not...

Talk about the Norfolk terrier tail wagging the Great Dane. If they are to have any hope of winning their partyÂ’s nomination, Republican presidential hopefuls better support ethanol mandates, Hawkeye State politicos told potential candidates at the recent Iowa Agricultural Summit in Des Moines. Â“DonÂ’t mess with the RFS,Â” Republican Governor Terry Branstad warned, referring to Renewable Fuel Standards that require refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. Â“It is the Holy Grail, and I will defend it,Â” said Rep. Steve King, another Iowa Republican. It is vital for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and preventing dangerous climate change...

Saudi Arabia and OPEC may have dropped oil prices to stifle production in the U.S. and other competing nations, but they didn’t drop it enough to stifle the U.S. oil and gas boom from fracking, a senior expert with McKinsey and Company said in Chicago. “If the Saudis think they’re going to put U.S. shale players out of business, they’re probably not, although there will be less drilling,” Joe Quoyeser told about 125 people, mostly graduate students, at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Energy Conference on Wednesday. ”But there are other elements of oil supply that are needed to balance the market...

In less than a decade, the one-time feeble U.S. energy sector has accomplished a record-breaking 180-degree turnaround thanks to advancements in new technologies. In fact, at the current rate, the nation is likely to hit production marks not seen since the 1970s. As such, we now live in a more energy self-sufficient nation, one that is inching closer every day to energy independence. While we utilize roughly 25 percent of the world’s oil on a daily basis, about 40 percent of the petroleum we consume is imported, down from 60 percent not too long ago. Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) has...

"We're as free of foreign oil as we've been in 30 years," Obama said. "We've doubled the amount of clean energy that we're producing. A lot of families are saving a lot of money at the gas pump, which is putting some smiles on folks' faces." "You're welcome," Obama said to tepid applause.

When gasoline sold at record prices, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, "I think it's time to say to these people, 'Stop ripping off the American people.'" When the average price of regular gas was close to $4 a gallon, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for Congress to look into breaking up giant oil companies. The claim was that "Wall Street greed (was) fueling high gas prices." Today in some places, gasoline is selling for less than $2 a gallon, less than half of its peak price in 2008. The idiotic explanation that attributed high oil prices to greed might now...

The world price of crude oil, which has been around 100 dollars a barrel for the past 6 years, has suddenly collapsed and is now tending below 50 dollars. Many are trying to understand this rapid decrease and have proposed various explanations. Of course, the ready explanation is simply in terms of supply and demand; but this just begs the question. The supply of oil has increased sharply in recent months – mainly because of the prolific production of shale oil in the United States, thanks to the technologies of fracking and horizontal drilling. In fact, the US is now...

Falling gasoline prices may be great for consumers, but they’re tough on energy firms and their workers. The latest layoffs announcement comes from the oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, which plans to cut 7,000 employees — 11 percent of its workforce. Global oil prices have plunged 60 percent since last June, making some drilling operations unprofitable. “While market demand ended up being more resilient in the fourth quarter than many had predicted, the recent declines seen in rig counts will clearly affect results in 2015,” said company CEO Martin Craighead. Speaking to analysts about the layoffs, he said, “This is...

While few Americans were fortunate enough to see a holiday bonus this year, there is one gift that American motorists have been enjoying of late; lower gas prices. Currently sitting at more than a dollar below the average price last year, U.S. drivers are projected to save somewhere between $380 and $750 dollars during 2015 if the prices hold. While wages have remained stubbornly flat for most workers, gas prices have provided a rare glimmer of hope for American workers, who have been struggling with an anemic job market, labor participation rates not seen since the 1970s, and median family...

We have witnessed the price implosion of oil, and the subsequent decline in gasoline prices. Is this the beginning of a trend, and what industry will admit and be subject to an inability to control its pricing structure? Cable television? The cost of cable television is a broken promise. Originally, for those old enough to remember, the promise of cable television was that though it may involve a charge, something new for television, there would be no commercials. Anyone remember? Now, the cable providers have it both ways. There are commercials, and infomercials, on which they receive money from not...

The cheapest gas in the country costs less than a bottle of soda or cup of coffee. A gas station in Tomball, Texas -- Stripes -- is selling a gallon of regular unleaded gas for $1.42 this morning. The price is 62 cents below the national average of $2.14 a gallon, which is among the country’s lowest levels for gas prices in five years. Stations in 45 states are selling gas for under $2 a gallon, according to Gasbuddy.com.

Gas prices are the lowest they've been in five years — a welcome relief for many drivers. But now that fuel prices are falling, some lawmakers are talking in a serious way about raising the gas tax — Republican lawmakers. The debate is at an early stage, and it’s fair to say House conservatives will hate the idea. But a few powerful GOP senators are signaling they're open to the idea. Even House Speaker John Boehner, who personally opposes raising the gas tax, hasn't ruled it out. “Some Republicans in the Senate are speaking up,” says Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's...

(WASHINGTON, December 29, 2014) Average gas prices in two states – Missouri ($1.93) and Oklahoma ($1.98) – have dropped below $2.00 per gallon for the first time since 2009. The national average has fallen 95 days in a row for a total of $1.06, and prices have plummeted $1.38 (nearly 40 percent) since the start of June. The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.29 per gallon, and motorists are saving 11 cents per gallon compared to one week ago, 49 cents compared to one month ago and $1.02 per gallon compared to this same date last year....

Gasoline prices are on the verge of crashing down to below $2 a gallon. The price of oil may dip below $50 a barrel. Even with renewed demand from a global economic resurgence, energy prices continue to fall. The U.S. has suddenly become the world's largest combined producer of oil and natural gas. That fact -- along with a desire to weaken hostile Iran and Russia -- has prompted the oil-rich Gulf sheikdoms to keep pumping oil even as the price falls. In their game of petro-chicken, the desperate sheiks hope that either their poorer enemies will run out of...

... While the U.S. does not export crude oil, its increased production has curbed imports, resulting in excess supply. Although the fracking boom has helped to increase supply and steal market share from the Middle East, it is the Saudi response to the increased production from North American shale that has sent the price of oil tumbling. In September 2014, in the face of falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia chose to increase oil production by half a percent. Days later on Oct. 1, they discounted oil exports to leading Asian customers. These actions set off a rapid decline in international...

There has only been one other time in history when the price of oil has crashed by more than 40 dollars in less than 6 months. The last time this happened was during the second half of 2008, and the beginning of that oil price crash preceded the great financial collapse that happened later that year by several months. Well, now it is happening again, but this time the stakes are even higher. When the price of oil falls dramatically, that is a sign that economic activity is slowing down. It can also have a tremendously destabilizing affect on financial...

Cratering crude-oil prices may be a blessing to cash-strapped American consumers, but it’s a double-edged sword when it comes to the overall economy. The problem for the overall economy is not so much the drop in oil prices as it is the velocity at which oil prices have fallen. The plunge from a peak of just over $100 per barrel in the early summer to today’s $58 — a massive 42 percent drop in just a few short months, most of which has come in the last 90 days — could make anyone’s head spin. The rapid fall in crude...

Just two weeks ago a sole gas station in Oklahoma swept headlines for dropping gas prices below $2 a gallon. Today, 13 states have joined that list and the trend is expanding. Gas for less than $1.90 a gallon can be found in at least one station in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Ohio, according to CNN. CNN cites ten additional states– Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia– that now have gas below $2 a gallon. “What we’re seeing is markets at work,” Heritage Foundation economist Nick Loris said. “Significant increases in supply and a relatively...

So who's crazy now? In 2011, the MSM mercilessly mocked Michele Bachmann for saying that if she became president, gas prices would fall to under $2/gallon. Typical was Time magazine, which called her prediction "fantasy." Time mocked Bachmann's drill, baby, drill policy, sniffing that if implemented, "prices at the pump might drop a whole 3 cents a gallon." But on CBS This Morning, there was top oil analyst Tom Kloza, saying that by Christmas, gas prices would be in the range of . . . $1.99-2.29 [I saw $2.18 here in Texas yesterday]. So who's crazy now, and where does...

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Wednesday shrugged off suggestions that the world's biggest crude exporter might cut production to reverse the deepest price slump in years, saying the kingdom's output had remained steady through last month. Naimi's comments on the sidelines of an annual U.N. climate change conference in Lima, Peru, stuck to the message he laid out at OPEC's meeting two weeks ago: The market would be left to balance itself without the kingdom's intervention. That stance was seen as a shift from longstanding Saudi policy to act as a swing supplier. Oil prices have dropped $13 a...

If you’re like most Americans, you haven’t been questioning the welcome drop in gasoline prices. You just fill ’er up and feel grateful that you’re spending less.But why has this remarkable drop come about? And what can we do to help keep prices lower?Some of it, unfortunately, is beyond our control. Worldwide demand for oil is down now. That always causes the cost of gasoline to drop.But the other side of the equation -- the part that is under our control -- has gone largely unheralded in many media accounts: the boom in U.S. energy production. Simply put, we’re producing...

It’s pretty clear, there is going to be a major push to raise the state’s gas tax during the upcoming legislative session. While that should surprise no one, I was shocked to see the over-the-top TV ad that the pro-gas tax crowd is currently using to advance the issue. That’s right, school children are going to die if we don’t raise the gas tax. This outrageous ad makes all those negative ads in the U.S. Senate race look like child’s play. Talk about jumping the shark. The ad begins with the claim that there are currently 5,000 deficient bridges in...

An Oncue Express station in Oklahoma City was selling the motor fuel for $1.99 a gallon Wednesday, becoming the first one to drop below $2 in the U.S. since July 30, 2010, Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy Organization Inc., said by email from Chicago. "We knew when we saw crude oil prices drop last week that we'd break the $2 threshold pretty soon, but we didn't know if it would happen in South Carolina, Texas, Missouri or Oklahoma," said DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for Gasbuddy. "Today's national average, $2.74, now makes the current price we pay a...

Free enterprise is proving to be Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's most potent foe. Moscow's February 2014 invasion of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and its immediate annexation drastically altered international diplomatic calculations. In a year marked by the homicidal rise of the Islamic State and Chinese probes of East Asian maritime borders, Putin's destruction of post-Cold War security arrangements is the most dangerous challenge to global peace. Yet U.S. and Western European attempts to penalize the Kremlin its Crimean theft and blunt its relentless "slow war of moral attrition" in Eastern Ukraine have been erratic. Though France's decision to halt its sale...

Republican oil mogul Harold Hamm says Congress is wasting its time debating the Keystone XL pipeline. “It’s not relevant at all, in my opinion. And here we are making it relevant now? Forget it,” the billionaire CEO of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources told Politoco in an interview Friday, just before the House passed a bill aimed at approving the pipeline. […] Hamm said his company, which had planned to use Keystone to ship some of its North Dakota crude, is already using other pipelines for half of its oil. And the percentage is growing. “We’re supporting other pipelines out there; we’re...

Despite losing at least eight seats, and probably nine before all the votes are counted by 2015, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has not faced much in the way of a public pushback from his fellow DemocratsÂ… until today. Purple state Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) revealed on Thursday that she will not back Reid in his role as minority leader in the next Congress.The revelation came as a surprise when she was asked by reporters if she would stand by Reid. Â“I will not,Â” McCaskill replied.Â“Yesterday, I met with Harry Reid and told him I would not...

Oil pricesÂ are plunging. Gasoline is now cheaper than milk. Why doesn't Washington do something already?Since peaking in June, the price of oil has tumbled by 25 percent. Texas light sweet crude futures have fallen to around $77.40 a barrel, a three-year low, while Brent oil, the global benchmark, sank on Monday to its lowest price in four years.With cheaper oil has come cheaper gasoline. The national average price for a gallon of regular is now just $2.926. Drivers haven't seen pump prices this low since December 2010. Nor have they seen such a sustained decline â€” the price has dropped...

New U.S. pipelines and a revival in Libyan supply are increasing the likelihood that oil prices will slump through year-end after climbing in the first six months. Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg predict West Texas Intermediate oil, the U.S. benchmark, will average $100 a barrel in the fourth quarter, down 5.1 percent from June 30, while Brent drops 4.8 percent to $107. Violence in Iraq sent Brent to $115.71 in June, its highest level since September, on concern supplies would be disrupted.

This Independence Day weekend, drivers won't see any relief from high gas prices. Although prices retreated by a fraction of a cent at the beginning of the week, AAA predicts holiday travelers will pay the most at the pump since 2008. In its monthly gas price report released June 30, AAA said, "With Independence Day only a few days away, today's national average price of gas is $3.68 per gallon. This average is considerably more expensive than recent years for the holiday. The national average on July 4 in previous years was: $3.48 (2013); $3.34 (2012); $3.57 (2011); $2.74 (2010);...

WASHINGTON — AAA Mid-Atlantic says the civil war in Iraq is pushing up gasoline prices in the United States. Drivers in the District of Columbia are paying $3.89 per gallon. That’s up 5 cents from a week ago and is far above the national average of $3.68 per gallon. In Maryland, AAA says gas prices are up 4 cents this week to an average of $3.67 per gallon. Prices are highest in the Washington suburbs and western Maryland. In Delaware, AAA says gas prices have risen 7 cents over the past week to about $3.68 per gallon. AAA says national...

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline have found a new talking point: Iraq Violence exploding in one of the world's largest oil-producing nations is ricocheting in the debate over U.S. energy policy. Backers of the pipeline, which would run from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, are pointing to the crisis in Iraq as a rationale for pushing the project forward. Often billed as a possible component for supplying the U.S.'s voracious energy markets with crude oil, TransCanada's long-delayed $5.3 billion pipeline has been mired in delays for six years. On Wednesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee voted 12-10 to...

Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Monday, a move that will inflict immediate pain on its turbulent neighbor and could eventually affect other gas-dependent European nations. The cutoff intensifies pressure on Ukraine, which is contending with an increasingly violent pro-Russian insurgency in its east and with economic challenges that were crippling even before the upheaval sparked by the ouster of Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych in February. And if the gas flow is halted for a long time, winter stockpiles across Europe could be depleted, causing problems across the continent, particularly in eastern European countries that depend solely on...

Tyler Durden 05/30/2014Submitted by Jeff Nielsen via BullionBullsCanada blog, Regular readers are familiar with my narratives on the U.S. Greater Depression, and (in particular) some of the government’s own charts which depict this economic meltdown most vividly. The collapse in the “civilian participation rate” (the number of people working in the economy) and the “velocity of money” (the heartbeat of the economy) indicate an economy which is not merely in decline, but rather is being sucked downward in a terminal (and accelerating) death-spiral. However, even that previously published data, and the grim analyses which accompanied it could not prepare me...

Memorial Day weekend drivers will continue to take a hit as gasoline prices remain high. May 20 marks the 1,245th straight day that the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline costs more than $3 a gallon, according to AAA data. That’s nearly three-and-a-half years above $3 a gallon.

At $3.67, US Regular gasoline prices are their highest since March 2013 having risen over 12% (40c) in the last 2 months. This must be great news, right? It must mean world demand is picking up and driving up prices of crude oil as global trade soars (amid a collapsing Baltic Dry and decelerating Chinese growth). This can't be related to "war premia" right? - as we noted here - because stocks (which always know best) have discounted all this tomfoolery. However, as the following chart shows, each time gas prices have surged up toards the Maginot Line of $3.80,...

California is preparing for an oil boom — brought in on rail cars. There are no pipelines that bring crude oil into California. For decades, the fuel that powers the state’s 32 million vehicles has come from tanker ships or in-state production. But government regulators predict a surge in U.S. oil production will means a steep increase in the number of trains carrying it to California refineries. The Ventura County Star reported Sunday that the increase in rail traffic will happen quickly, jumping from 9,000 carloads in 2011 to more than 200,000 carloads by 2016, according to California Energy Commission...

>Gasoline prices have risen steadily in the past six weeks through March 18. There was an uptick in gas prices in 37 of the past 38 days, and gas is now more expensive than at any point in the past six months. In a number of states, the price of gas is now more than $3.75 per gallon, versus $3.52 nationwide, with gas prices in several other states not far behind. In Hawaii, the price of gas is $4.17 per gallon. Here, as in a number of states, the high price of gas reflects the difficulties involved in transporting oil...

Lots of things that should have happened in 2013 did not. We were supposed to have long ago reached "peak oil" and an age of always-higher gas prices. Wind and solar power -- and a reduced lifestyle -- were our dismal future. But someone or something did not cooperate with gloomy government predictions. After all the failed subsidized green companies, the postponement of the Keystone Pipeline, the radical restrictions of new gas and oil leasing on federal lands, and the promises for radical climate-change legislation curtailing carbon energy use, the United States nevertheless seems awash in old energy. Gas prices...

Warren Buffett’s company has agreed to trade roughly $1.4 billion of its stock in Phillips 66 for one of the refiner's chemical businesses. Houston-based Phillips 66 said Monday that Berkshire Hathaway will give up about 19 million of its 27.2 million Phillips 66 shares to acquire a business that makes additives that help crude oil flow through pipelines. …